


Take Me Back Home

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Ironstrange Bingo 2020 Collection (Round 2) [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Dorks in Love, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Holding Hands, Humor, IronStrange Bingo 2020, M/M, but only a tiny bit promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22976704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: Stephen looked imposing and stunning in his wizard outfit, and wonderfully cozy in his loose loungewear, no doubt about that, but Tony hadn't been prepared for how he looked when he dressed to impress.Tony takes Stephen out for their first date.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Ironstrange Bingo 2020 Collection (Round 2) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636018
Comments: 20
Kudos: 186
Collections: IronStrange Bingo 2020





	Take Me Back Home

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fluff featuring shy, blushy Tony and Stephen and a ton of smiling. Seasoned with just the tiniest bit of angst to make the rest all the sweeter.  
> The title is from the song of the same name by Dave Gahan & The Soulsavers.
> 
> Ironstrange Bingo Round 2: _Smile_

The doors to the Sanctum opened for Tony and he'd barely set a foot inside when he stopped in surprise. Stephen was waiting for him but it wasn't the Stephen he was used to.

Stephen looked imposing and stunning in his wizard outfit, and wonderfully cozy in his loose loungewear, no doubt about that, but Tony hadn't been prepared for how he looked when he dressed to impress.

 _Stunning_ didn't even come close to it, really, and for the first time Tony saw a glimpse of the person he used to be once upon a time. Dressed like this Stephen looked like a foreigner in his own home. A very pretty foreigner, granted, but still, well, like a _stranger_.

Tony barely managed to put a friendly smile on his face before Stephen managed to get his eyes up from the ground. "Hey," he greeted and internally winced at how quiet and intimate it came out. "Nice outfit."

Stephen shrugged, an half-pleased, half-embarrassed smiled on his lips as he looked down at himself. Dark slacks, nice button-down shirt and a jacket that, while not the newest seemed timelessly classic on Stephen and fit him exceptionally well. Must have been tailor-made once upon a time. Nothing over the top but very, very nice indeed. Tony was suddenly glad that he hadn't dressed too flashy himself.

"It's been a while since I needed to dress up," Stephen confessed softly. Fuck, was that a slight blush on his face? "I'm out of practice."

 _If this is out of practice you'll kill me when you actually **try**_ , Tony thought but somehow managed to keep it to himself. He shrugged instead. "Looks nice," he said instead. _Fuck it._ " _Really_ nice," he added and made sure to put just a bit of a purr into the words.

He wanted to see more of that blush, after all.

This time he got a short laugh in addition to the lovely blush. "Glad you approve." Stephen spread his arms and slowly turned in a circle to give Tony the full view. "You'll take me out like this then?"

"With pleasure. Where's your coat?" As lovely as the whole outfit was, it was too cool for nothing over the jacket. He'd barely finished speaking when a streak of red came around the corner and settled on Stephen's shoulders. "Or you could take your cape, I guess," he muttered to himself. He watched as the thing molded itself around Stephen's body until it almost looked like a coat. "You're really versatile, aren't you?"

The Cloak answered by untucking the bit of itself that had become something like a scarf and waving at him. Stephen just rolled his eyes and let it do its thing so it seemed to be a regular occurrence.

"It gets a little bit possessive," Stephen confessed and petted the fabric. "It's a cross I have to bear."

"At least it's not heavy," Tony gave back and offered an arm. He was determined to do this the right way with all the bells and whistles.

Stephen cooked an eyebrow but took him up on the offer. "Really?"

"Really," Tony confirmed. "I found us a nice restaurant not too far away."

Near enough to need neither car nor magic portal. Hence the need for warm outerwear.

Stephen flashed him a grateful smile that clearly showed that he knew exactly what Tony was up to. "You won't be embarrassed if anyone catches you arm in arm with another man?" he asked just before the door of the Sanctum opened by itself.

Tony laughed at that. "You should be more concerned about your own reputation. Mine went down in flames decades ago."

Stephen smiled at that. "Then maybe I'm the one to bring it back from the dead," he murmured.

Something hard and cold inside of Tony's chest - maybe the last remnants of nerves - melted at that. "I'd like that," he gave back just as softly. He had no illusions about what he wanted out of this date and from Stephen - and that was something far removed from a casual fling. It was nice to have indirect confirmation that Stephen wanted something along the same lines.

Tony wasn't sure which one of them was the one to take a step closer but by the time they arrived at the restaurant they were almost cuddling with each other like walking, breathing in each other's scent.

 _Nice_. Tony smiled at Stephen and gave in to the impulse to put a hand low on his back to guide him inside.

The curl of a bit of red fabric around his wrist in return showed him that he hadn't been too forward.

*

Two hours, and one delicious meal, later Tony did what he did best - next to inventing ground-breaking things in various fields - he fucked up. Spectacularly.

"Can I see?" he asked in a moment of pure not-thinking. He'd been obsessed with Stephen's hands for what seemed like a lifetime now and after seeing them right in front of him for hours on end his curiosity finally got the better of him. He held out his own hand in invitation to really drive the point of his stupidity home.

Stephen didn't stare at him as if he was insane. He also didn't look like a deer caught in the headlights. Instead of telling Tony that he was an idiot and storming off in a huff he took a deep breath and, after an eternity of indecision, reached out and put his right hand into Tony's waiting one. It was too cool and maybe shaking a little bit more than usual. Tony didn't dare to look down to check visually; instead he kept his eyes locked onto Stephen's.

"It's not a pretty sight," Stephen warned him. "But I already have so little feeling left that I hate to lose the bit I have by wearing gloves. I tend to keep them out of sight normally."

 _I noticed._ Tony could feel his heart breaking at the admission. It was nothing he hadn't already suspected, really, but to hear the quiet resignation in Stephen's voice… He wanted to make it go away but he knew that he couldn't. Just like the ache in his chest there were some things even he couldn't fix.

"You don't have to hide from me," he said and finally looked down. "I get it. Really, I do. There are some things I prefer to keep hidden myself but if this is going where I think we both want it to go… you'll see my scars. Rather soon I think." He shook his head to clear it. "Can I touch?"

"I wouldn't have accepted your invitation otherwise." The smile was back in Stephen's voice. Had been almost the whole evening, really. "Touch all you want." He hesitated for a moment. "Just…"

"I'll be careful," Tony promised. "Don't worry, I'm good with fragile things." For a moment he feared that he'd said the wrong thing once again but Stephen seemed to be in a forgiving mood today.

"Fragile," he repeated softly. "You know, I've never thought about them like that. An annoyance, mostly. A punishment when I have a really bad day."

Tony finally lowered his eyes. Beautiful hands, long elegant fingers, marred by red scars and eternal tremors. Well-cared for nails but the skin itself was dry. Too dry for Tony's taste. A clear sign that Stephen did the most necessary things but not much else. Probably because of self-hate and shame. Tony knew the feeling and hated that Stephen did, too.

Despite everything it was easy to look beyond the damage and imagine how they'd looked once. Strong, steady, able to hold a scalpel for hours on end. A musician's hands. The thought of them playing over his body sent shivers of anticipation down his spine.

"How do you see them then?" he asked while tracing the line of the scarring from the tip of Stephen's index finger down. His guesses tended to be good but he wanted actual confirmation.

"Broken," came the quiet answer. "Hideous. A constant reminder of my arrogance." There was a strange undertone in his voice and Tony looked up. Stephen shook his head as soon as their eyes met. "But I still have them and that's a miracle. I've learned to be grateful for that. Most of the time." This time his smile was wry. "It's still an ongoing process, I fear."

"The whole love thyself thing? Yeah, that one's tough." Tony still held on to Stephen's hand as if it was the most precious thing he'd ever been allowed to hold. Hell, right now it was exactly that. _Just do it_ , he told himself. "But if you have problems in that regard I'm willing to help out. Seriously, I'm your guy."

Maybe not the most romantic way to confess his love but it was one of his better efforts, really.

"They're not hideous and not broken," he continued quickly to keep Stephen from speaking. "They're beautiful." He traced another one of the scars. There were so many and it broke his heart to think about all the pain Stephen had to go through. Apart from shaking, courtesy of the nerve-damage, Stephen's hand was relaxed and he didn't even try to take it away after Tony's words.

"You should have seen them before." The words were very quiet. "You wouldn't have liked _me_ , I think, I was an even greater asshole than I am now, but you would have liked my hands. What they could do."

Tony wanted to protest, to reassure, but he was realistic enough to recognize the truth when he heard it, if he liked it or not. "I don't like seeing you in pain," he said when nothing else came to mind. He was also very much looking forward to discovering what Stephen's hands could still do but he sensed that now was not the time to talk about that. Maybe later. Maybe - hopefully - there would be some actual action in that regard. Stephen's hands on his body, his hands on Stephen's…

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Stephen reached out with his left hand and barely managed to brush Tony's chest across the table. "Don't think that I haven't seen you flinch and wince when you think nobody's looking."

So Stephen had been watching him while he'd been busy watching Stephen. Good to know. Not so good to know was that he wasn't as good at hiding as he thought he was. Or maybe Stephen was just extra-perceptive? Doctor and all that. Yeah, that must be it.

"This is getting morbid," he decided. He also didn't want to speak about it, even if that made him a hypocrite. "I'm sorry that I brought the mood down."

Stephen shook his head. "You didn't. Not really." He took a deep breath and put his left hand on the table. "It's something we need to talk about before this… _thing_ between us goes any further." The blush was back on his face and he looked adorable. Tony could feel his heart doing things it shouldn't be doing in its condition and age.

"No, we don't." Tony decided. "Not on our first real date. Just let us enjoy the rest of the night."

"What do you have in mind?"

Tony tightened his hold around Stephen's hand just a little bit. "A nice walk back home for starters."

"While holding hands?"

"Of course. If you think I'm letting go of you now you're insane." He didn't just mean Stephen's hand and he prayed to everything he didn't really believe in that Stephen got the real meaning behind his words.

Stephen's fingers twitched at that, as he tried and failed to grab Tony's hand in return. His heart broke at the aborted gesture and the slight hiss of pain it brought.

"Fuck! Sorry, I'm…"

Stephen tried to take his hand back and Tony let him go after a second, too afraid of causing more pain.

They got up and Tony watched in silence as the Cloak did its magical pseudo-transformation into the jacket/scarf combination from before.

"Don't be," Stephen said after the Cloak was finished. "Sorry, I mean. It's going to happen from time to time. I bang my fingers against things or hold on too tightly to something almost every day." He held up his right hand, palm up, and curled the fingers inwards just the tiniest bit. "Pain is an old friend," he murmured and something in his tone told Tony that the words meant something special to Stephen. They still made his heart jump unpleasantly.

"It shouldn't be."

Another of those half-bitter, half-resigned smiles. "Neither should it be for you and yet here we are."

"Here we are," Tony echoed softly. After weeks of dancing around each other, tons of flirting that had passed the threshold of playful long ago and way too many catastrophes in between. Time to get things back on track. "I'd rather be somewhere else, actually." He held his hand out once again. "Back to your museum?"

As much as he loved the idea of taking Stephen back home because that was what he was used to, he knew that it wouldn't happen. Stephen had made it very clear that whatever might happen between them would happen in his home rather than Tony's and Tony was okay with that. Neither the rebuilt compound nor the tower really felt like home anyway these days. Stephen, despite their rather short acquaintance, already did.

Stephen slowly put his hand into Tony's waiting one. "Back home," he agreed with a smile. "I have a room I'd like to show you there."

"Does it have a nice bed in it?"

"Very nice. Very big. Not that I think we'll need that much space." Stephen, the bastard, winked at him and that was the moment Tony just _had to_ lean in and kiss him, all his good intentions to wait until later gone in a heartbeat.

Stephen responded beautifully and they stayed like that, hands intertwined, kissing and smiling at each other stupidly whenever they took a second to catch a breath.

"Take me back home," Tony begged after a few minutes of increasingly escalating making out.

"With pleasure." They were still grinning at each other when Stephen conjured a portal to shorten the way home and still holding hands when Stephen led an only slightly trembling and nervous Tony through it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this absolute fluff fest. I hope it was enjoyable. 🤍
> 
> [@](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/611417873416617984/take-me-back-home-amethyst-noir-arbonne)


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